In Lightning Lotto under the 5/49 · since May 2025 rules — 505 draws, 5 from 1–49.
41times drawn · chance expected 52 −1.55σ
54draws waiting · a wait this long: 0.3% for any number
10.8average wait between appearances · chance says 9.8
32longest completed wait · 77% chance of one at least that long
42 is drawn as often as chance explains
Drawn 41 times in 505 draws against 51.5 expected, −1.55σ. Each draw is independent: after 54 draws away it is exactly as likely tonight as a number drawn yesterday.
42
Number 42, draw by draw
Drawn 41 times in 505 draws · average wait 10.8 draws · longest completed wait 32 · waiting 54 draws now
a completed wait — darker is longer the wait still running — a lower bound, not a finished gap
Where it lands in a sorted draw
Sort a draw and 42 has a favourite seat — chance gives a large number the high positions more often. That is the shape of sorting, not of the machine.
Never drawn alongside 2 of the other 48 numbers; chance expects about 2 such strangers by now. Every pair →
How many people play it
Under the crowd model, 42 is picked about 0.86× as often as an indifferent choice — 33rd most popular of 49. That changes nothing about whether it comes up, and everything about how many ways a jackpot on it would be shared.
Nothing here predicts the next draw. A number’s history is a record of a fair machine’s past, and the machine keeps none of it: 42 is drawn with probability 5/49 tonight whatever it did last week.